And Into The Light
by xstormqueenx
Summary: When Clara and her fellow LITs find themselves in the middle of an apparent alien invasion, they have to separate what's fact and what's fiction. {And The City Of Light, AU}.
1. Do Not Be Deceived

**Author's Note:** This is the sequel to _Out Of The Darkness._ The reading order so far for all of my Flynn/Clara fiction is: _And She Was Not An Adventure, Plato's Step-Daughter, A Christmas Clara, Sure As Sin, Once Upon A Dime,_ _Reap The Whirlwind,_ _Out Of The Darkness,_ and _And Into The Light_. Each new Flynn/Clara story will include an updated reading order. All my Librarians fiction can be found under the 'My Stories' section of my profile. Videos for characters canon and original, can be found on my Youtube channel via the link on my profile.

* * *

 **Do Not Be Deceived**

The clippings book glided gracefully around Clara's head, before settling onto her outstretched palm, flexing its binding like wings.

"I swear that thing used me as a toilet the other day," Ezekiel said, glaring at the clippings book.

"Flynn still hasn't phoned," Jenkins said to Clara, ignoring Ezekiel, "everything alright in that rather insane quarter?"

"He's... busy," Clara said carefully, careful to keep her gaze fixed on the clippings book. Flynn's visits to her windowsill had become more infrequent; his phone calls and messages losing their intimate edge, becoming business-like to the point of brusqueness. She supposed the honeymoon period was over, but she knew deep down it was more than that. Something had changed between them, and Flynn didn't want to face it, keeping his distance instead, keeping the illusion alive that everything was as it should be.

"And I zapped that genie back into its bottle," Cassandra boasted as she came through the door, Jacob looking suitably admiring. After the House of Refuge, she'd started embarking on her own undercover missions, going behind Eve's back with Jenkins's full permission. She had what the others didn't, a strange tenacity united with a formidable almost abstract intelligence, and being Jenkins's favourite only fuelled her rebellion. Her health was fading, but her star wasn't. Cassandra didn't see why she should stop or be left behind, and so she left the others behind instead, pushing herself to the edge of existence.

"As I was saying, it's _aliens_ ," Ezekiel said, picking up the threads of their conversation again.

"What aliens?" Jacob asked, confused.

"Aliens don't exist," Jenkins said abruptly.

"Minotaurs, haunted houses, Santa Claus," Eve reeled off, " _yes_ , but UFOs? Don't be silly."

"Ha-ha," Jenkins said dourly. "You're quite the whiplash wit, Colonel Baird."

"A UFO nut goes missing in a town where strange lights have been reported," Ezekiel read out from the newspaper article the clippings book had left under Clara's pillow, rather like the tooth fairy, but not as profitable. _"U-F-O_ ," Ezekiel spelled out, shaking his head.

"Do not be deceived by any physical manifestation you may encounter," Jenkins reprimanded, "there's absolutely no UFOs."

"The only people I know that believe in UFOs are the same ones who think Elvis was the shooter on the grassy knoll," Jacob said cryptically, watching as the clippings book left Clara's hand, flying to its perch instead.

"Current estimates put the number of habitable planets in our galaxy at 11 billion," Cassandra said, folding her arms across her chest, "so it's highly unlikely that we are the only intelligent life in this universe."

"Is that including Ezekiel?" Eve said, Jacob repressing a grin.

"Stop stealing my lines," Jenkins said, spinning the globe. "Now begone!"

 _Lord I don't know which way I am going_ _  
_ _Which way the river gonna flow_ _  
_ _It's just seems that upstream, I keep rowing_ _  
_ _Still got such a long way to go_ _  
_ _Still got such a long way to go…_


	2. The Truth Is Out There

**The Truth Is Out There**

 _And if the day came when I felt a_ _  
_ _natural emotion_ _  
_ _I'd get such a shock I'd probably lie_ _  
_ _in the middle of the street and die_ _  
_ _I'd lie down and die…_

"You're a UFO geek," Cassandra said to Ezekiel as they crossed through a car park.

"Guilty as charged," Ezekiel admitted.

"You're planning on selling out the human race, aren't you?" Clara said, reading Ezekiel like a book.

"I will absolutely sell out the human race to our new alien overlords," Ezekiel said, nonplussed. "They know what's best for us."

"Where's Noah Wyle when you need him?" Jacob muttered, rolling up his sleeves.

"So what's the plan?" Cassandra chirped, swinging her arms to and fro. "And it better not involve leaving me behind."

"When was the last time I left you behind, Cassie?" Eve said, slowing to a stop.

"Yesterday," Cassandra said promptly.

" _Okay..._ " Eve said guiltily, hastily setting off again.

"I propose we watch the skies," Ezekiel said, swiping the trilby hat off a passing pensioner's head, "that's a good starting point."

"You okay, Clara?" Eve asked her, ignoring Ezekiel.

"You really have to stop asking me that," Clara said, rolling her eyes.

"You were doing that thing again," Eve pointed out.

"What, listening to the others speak?" Clara said, raising an eyebrow.

"Make it more like a glassy-eyed stare," Eve said, taking the trilby from Ezekiel.

"You were zonin' out again, Hartley," Jacob said gently.

"Well, I'm back in the zone now," Clara said, linking her arm through his.

"Get a room you two," Ezekiel protested, "the sight of you two salivating over each other is sickening me to the stomach."

"Shut up, Fagin," Jacob snapped. "Me and Hartley are homies, the next big bromance. Anythin' else is sedition."

"Take a chill pill, dude," Ezekiel said, taken aback. "I was just joshing."

Jacob just glared at him, Ezekiel's observations hitting a raw nerve. He wasn't oblivious to the distance slowly growing between Clara and Flynn, and he secretly harboured hopes of stepping into the breach, of finally claiming his heart's desire. But his hopes weren't high, knowing Flynn would always come first with Clara. There had always been some strange spark between Flynn and Clara, one which was more of enmity than anything else, a negative attraction that Jacob had never understood.

"So what's the plan, then?" Cassandra said, returning to the subject at hand.

"All we have is our intel of Victor Finch, investigative journalist goes missing in Collins Falls, not seen for three weeks, yadi-yadi-yada," Eve said tiredly. "Nothing else, complete brick wall."

"He was abducted by aliens," Ezekiel said, eyes narrowing in the face of their scepticism.

"I will break every bone in your body if you say that again," Eve threatened.

"When was this town founded?" Jacob said suddenly, slowing to a sudden stop, making Clara stumble, Jacob steadying her.

"1953," Cassandra said, brow furrowing. "Why?"

"A lot of houses in the '50s were built in a ranch style," Jacob said, gesturing to the large white house in front of them, "but that looks like a Colonial revival which puts it at the late 1800/1900s."

"Not every house we come across is going to be a time-travelling building," Eve reminded Jacob impatiently. "Maybe these folks were just taking a nostalgia trip when they built their home."

"Doesn't explain the gas-lamps," Jacob pointed out.

"Okay, maybe we should split up," Eve suggested, tired of Jacob's architecture obsession, "Jake, you and Clara check out the history of this place, Zeke and Cassie, go and investigate around where Finch's car was found. I'll do my Guardian thing, savvy?"


	3. Maybe Mabel

**Maybe Mabel**

 _So hey, let's be friends_  
 _I'm dying to see how this one ends_  
 _Grab your passport and my hand_  
 _I can make the bad guys good for a weekend…_

"Excuse me, ma'am," Jacob called over to a young woman halfway up a stepladder, looking like she was about to attack one of the gas lamps with a spanner, Clara noting with some odd unease she was very pretty in an understated small-town way.

"Ma'am?" the young woman said, frowning. "We don't get a lot of ma'aming around here. Mostly just 'hey Mabel'," she finished, affecting a deep gruff voice.

"Mabel," Jacob said thoughtfully, studying her, "that's an old fashioned name."

Mabel lay down her spanner, a grin tugging at her lips. "I'm an old fashioned girl," she almost challenged, climbing down the stepladder.

"Well, it's an old fashioned town," Clara said, taking Jacob's hand, startling him, "it stands to reason everything is at least ten years out of date," she said, glancing pointedly at Mabel's vintage looking red dress.

"Oh, these things?" Mabel said, gesturing to Clara's beloved brogues. "Or _these_ things?" she added with a grin, glancing up at the gas lamp. "They haven't worked for forever, but I like to tinker about with them from time to time. It would be a sight to see them all lit up," she finished, sounding wistful.

"Yes it would," Jacob said, his gaze raking her, "like Paris."

" _Oui_ ," Mabel agreed. "Oh, comme Paris."

"Well, mais ici, dans Collins Falls," Jacob agreed.

"Venez le long de Jacob, le temps n'attend personne ni mortel," Clara said, rolling her eyes.

"σε ένα λεπτό αγάπη μου," Jacob sing-songed.

"No tenemos un minuto, cariño," Clara trilled.

"Sie mich nicht dagegen," Mabel interjected, "ich werde einfach hier stehen und beobachten sie beide argumentieren."

"Je zou ondertitels nodig," Clara said sweetly.

"Ik denk het niet," Mabel said just as sweetly.

"I'm Jacob Stone," Jacob said hastily, letting go of Clara's hand, holding it out to Mabel instead.

"And I'm Mabel Collins," Mabel said, shaking it.

"This is Clara Hartley," Jacob then said, introducing the now fuming Clara, "we're... we're librarians on a sabbatical. Clara's boyfriend's our boss, he's kind of into sendin' us on research trips."

"Sounds like my kind of man," Mabel said with another grin.

"Well, he's mine," Clara said coldly.

"So what are you researching?" Mabel asked Jacob, playfully miming a catlike swipe when Clara wasn't looking, making Jacob grin despite himself.

"Small town histories and stuff," Jacob said, leaning against the gas lamp. "That sort of thing."

"That makes sense," Mabel said, smirking slightly.

"Is there somebody we can talk to?" Jacob awkwardly pressed, windmilling his hands through the air.

"I would recommend the town archivist," Mabel suggested, picking up her toolbox. "Family founded the place, so if they don't know it, it ain't worth knowing."

"Would you mind pointin' us in his direction?" Jacob asked, only to become confused by the expression on Mabel's face, then wincing, finally getting it. "Collins Falls, Mabel Collins... you're the archivist," he said, spectacularly facepalming himself.

"Brains too," Mabel said deadpan, her own gaze discreetly raking Jacob, obviously liking what she was seeing.

"Never judge a book by its cover," Clara said smartly, before dragging Jacob away.


	4. Mulder And Scully

**Mulder And Scully**

"What the hell are you doin', Hartley?" Jacob hissed, tearing himself out of her grip.

"I'm saving you from small-town hell," Clara snapped, startling him.

"What!?" Jacob said, doing a double-take.

"I know her type," Clara said, jabbing a finger at him, "before you know it, she'll have a ring on her finger and you mowing the lawn every Sunday, raising the next generation of Collins to take over the town."

"I think you're jumpin' the gun" -

\- "And you'll be jumping through hoops of fire to get into her bed," Clara said bluntly. "You heard her, she's old fashioned. She'll have you suited and booted in the blink of an eye, calling the banns" -

\- "Well, maybe I need the love of a good woman," Jacob said coolly, startling Clara this time.

"Well, you're not going to find it here," Clara countered, recovering herself.

"Maybe I will," Jacob said, drawing her to him.

"Don't," Clara said quietly, drawing back from him.

"I'm _here_ , Clara," Jacob said just as quietly, "when Flynn isn't."

"Just don't," Clara almost spat, making Jacob take a step back.

"I thought you needed an archivist?" Mabel said from behind them, making Jacob turn around.

"I think I need more than that," Jacob said, his voice cracking.

 _I want the one I can't have  
and it's driving me mad  
it's written all over my face…_

* * *

"I'm the archivist, notary, volunteer fire-chief and chancellor of the exchequer," Mabel reeled off, leading them to her office.

"Small-town government, eh?" Jacob said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Not a lot of town though," Mabel said, setting down her toolbox, "not a lot of interesting either."

"So have there been any crop circles or anything?" Clara asked lightly, startling Jacob.

Mabel just scoffed, looking at Clara as if she was mad. "You don't look like a Mulder," she said, studying Clara, "more like a Scully, with that sceptical set of your jaw."

Before Clara could frame an appropriately scathing retort, her phone went off, blaring _Habanera._ "Zeke?" she said, answering it, turning her back on Mabel and Jacob who were now just standing there, discreetly eying each other up, Jacob wearing a stupid grin, getting on Clara's last nerve.

"Eve's been beamed up by a gas lamp!" he gabbled, hopping up and down on the spot, his foot barely missing Victor Finch's head.

"What!?" Clara exclaimed, doing a double-take.

"Victor Finch attacked me, but Eve Spocked him, knocking him out, only to get beamed up by a gas-lamp," Ezekiel babbled, backing away from the crime scene.

"Where's Cassandra?" Clara asked urgently.

"She got sidetracked by a stationary store."

"Where are you, then?"

"In the middle of nowhere, with just me and a gas lamp," Ezekiel said, turning wildly on the spot, "it's all very Narnia; I'm just expecting Mr. Tumnus to appear."

"Are you Edmund, then?" Clara said before she could stop herself.

"Why do you automatically think I'd be Edmund?" Ezekiel protested, insulted.

"I just do."

"Well, you're Susan," Ezekiel retorted. "Judas Iscariot, the last betrayer."

* * *

"I never got distracted by a stationary store!" Cassandra snapped, rounding on Ezekiel. "You did a runner on me!"

Ezekiel just stood there, fists clenching by his sides. "I just wanted to see if there were any aliens," he said sulkily.

"On your own?" Jacob said, raising an eyebrow.

"What, you think I bailed on Cillian to save my own neck or something?" Ezekiel flared up. "Not this time, Stone. I genuinely wanted to see if I could scratch up something on aliens, okay?"

"But Cassandra believes there's other intelligent life out there," Clara said, frowning. "She should have been your first choice of back-up."

"She called me a UFO geek," Ezekiel snapped.

"You call me Math-Girl," Cassandra retorted. "You insult my tumour on a daily basis" -

\- "Enough," Jenkins said, coming down the Annex's sweeping staircase, "we have more pressing issues to concern ourselves with, Eve for starters."

Cassandra crossed her arms over her chest, put out her best ally had turned his back on her.

"Only you four could lose a Guardian," Jenkins said, shaking his head, "Librarians, yes, we go through them like tissue paper, but a _Guardian?_ "

"It was Ezekiel who did the losing," Jacob said, rounding on Ezekiel.

"I prefer to think of it as _she_ lost me," Ezekiel said loftily. "I mean, one minute she's all assault and battery **,** the next she's beamed up into space."

"You said she was beamed into a gas-lamp," Clara said, turning on Ezekiel.

"She wasn't beamed anywhere," Jenkins said, rolling his eyes.

"Says the guy with the teleporting door," Ezekiel parried.

"UFOs don't exist."

"Says the guy with the teleporting door" -

\- "Enough, alright!?" Clara snapped, interrupting Ezekiel, only to be interrupted by a loud ting, not unlike a toaster.

"Ah," Jenkins said, pulling out some sort of small scanner from his shirt pocket. "Eve is still on the planet," he said, studying the screen.

"She safe?" Cassandra said hopefully, craning her neck over his shoulder.

"She's... on the planet," Jenkins repeated, starting to sweat.

"Where though?" Jacob pressed.

"Magic isn't an exact science," Jenkins said, hastily stowing the scanner away, "if it were, it would be... science."


	5. Hand In Glove

**Hand In Glove**

"What do you remember?" Jacob said, stooping down so he was eye level with Victor Finch. They'd taken the time to bring him round and patch him up, even giving him a clean change of underwear, so Jacob thought the least Victor could do was provide them with some answers.

"Nothing," Victor said simply.

"Nothing?" Cassandra pressed.

"Nothing," Victor repeated sadly.

"Right we're commandeering your UFO equipment," Jacob said, straightening up, "consider it payment for the boxers." Without a word, he shouldered Victor's rucksack, before picking up a variety of cameras by the straps and swinging them over his arm. "Come on, troops," he said to the others, heading for the door.

"And back to the Annex," Ezekiel said, twirling to a stop in front of Flynn's desk.

"You smell of hospital," Jenkins said, wrinkling his nostrils with disgust.

"As requested," Jacob interjected, dumping Victor's equipment down on the desk.

"Give me that," Jenkins snapped, snatching up a video camera. He flicked through the footage, before freezing it. "See," he said, beckoning the others over, "there's an energy emission in the woods, right behind Mr. Finch."

Clara studied the screen, brow furrowing as golden light flickered like fairy dust, the sight strangely hypnotic.

"That's what took Eve," Ezekiel said, all but jumping up and down on the spot.

"It's not evidence of alien life, Jones," Jenkins said dourly.

"Do you think it's connected to the gas lamps?" Clara suggested hesitantly.

"Perhaps," Jenkins said carefully.

"I should go and speak to that archivist then," Jacob said, moving with indecent haste to the door.

"Go with him," Jenkins ordered Clara, "guard him."

* * *

"Hey," Jacob called over as he strode through the stacks, Clara trailing at his heels, face tripping her.

"Hi," Mabel said, surprised, "and you've caught me up yet another ladder," she finished with an embarrassed laugh.

"Comes with the territory, huh?" Jacob said, gesturing to the archive around them.

Mabel just smiled, sparing Clara an even sparer glance. "Can I help you with anything?" she said, clambering down the ladder steps with awkward grace.

"For such a small town, you seem to have a _lot_ of history," Jacob said, sidestepping the question.

"God forbid if we throw anything away," Mabel said, rolling her eyes.

Jacob laughed, before crossing his arms over his chest. "Did you ever leave this place?" he said suddenly, startling both Mabel and Clara.

"What, the archives?" Mabel said, raising her eyebrows.

"No, the town," Jacob said, studying her face.

Mabel hesitated before shaking her head. "No," she said, picking up a box of files, before carrying them over to another shelf, Jacob and Clara following her, "I couldn't. Family obligations."

"This is a nice heart to heart we're having," Clara said, stepping inbetween Mabel and Jacob, "but to get back to the matter at hand, we need to know about your gas lamps."

"You know, you're not zonin' out so much," Jacob said suddenly again, turning to Clara this time.

"Blame Ezekiel for that," Clara said tiredly, "he'd keep the Devil on his toes."

"Gas lamps?" Mabel pressed, raising her eyebrows.

"Maybe Mabel, I could bring Paris to you... if I can't bring you to Paris," Jacob said, turning the full battery of his blue eyes on Mabel.

She laughed, a short abrupt sound. "That... that would be nice," she said, setting the box of files down.

"Better than diggin' ditches," Jacob said, rumpling up his hair.

"That what you did, before you became a librarian?" Mabel said, eying his broad shoulders.

"Yup," Jacob admitted, "it's one of my many talents."

"One of your gas lamps has gone a little bit funny," Clara said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, "so we were wondering if you could help us with blueprints or something" -

\- "It's gone funny?" Mabel said, a note of panic entering her voice.

"Our surveying equipment detected some sort of fault," Jacob said quickly, glaring at Clara.

"Show me," Mabel said, picking up her coat.

"We just need" -

\- "My town, my archives," Mabel said firmly. "Show me."

* * *

 _Hand in glove_ _  
_ _we can go wherever we please_ _  
_ _and everything depends upon_ _  
_ _how near you stand to me…_

"Hey," Jacob said awkwardly, stepping out from between the trees, "how's the surveyin' goin'?"

Everybody froze, their gazes falling upon Mabel, faces instantly darkening at the sight of her.

"You brought somebody that's not a Librarian?" Cassandra hissed at Clara, who was doing her best to hide behind Jacob.

"Blame Loverboy," Clara hissed back, "he's got stars in his eyes."

"I thought that was Jones," Jenkins said dryly, "suffering from doing too much star-gazing."

"All Stone sees is Mabel and more Mabel," Clara whispered, making Jacob glare at her, Mabel pretending not to hear her.

"I had a doll called Mabel once," Jenkins said, reminiscing over his measuring tape.

"Uh, what's wrong with the gas lamp?" Mabel asked, going over to it, careful to keep her distance from Jenkins.

"Bloke slammed into it, then poof, Eve was no more," Ezekiel said blithely.

"Poof?" Mabel said, raising her eyebrows.

"He's Australian," Jacob said hastily, "we don't even know what he's sayin' half the time."

"Do you know what this gas lamp is doing out here in the middle of the woods?" Cassandra asked Mabel, tilting her head to the side.

"No," Mabel said, confused.

"Lucy," Ezekiel said, pointing at her.

"Mabel," Mabel said, backing away from him.

"So far the gas lamp seems..." Jenkins said, ignoring their odd interlude, touching the gas lamp instead, only to be almost electrocuted, Eve appearing in a shimmering haze of golden light, looking like she was trying to grab someone.

"Oh my God," Mabel said, her hand flying to her mouth.

"Optical illusion," Jenkins groaned, doubling over.


	6. There's A New Sheriff In Town

**There's A New Sheriff In Town**

"Optical illusion?" Ezekiel challenged, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, _optical illusion_ ," Jacob emphasized, looking like he was going to strangle Ezekiel.

"That was Colonel Baird," Ezekiel said firmly, only to falter as Clara raised her hand threateningly, "and you're right, it was an optical illusion, that's what we call them in Australia, Colonel Bairds, oi, sun in my eyes, thought I seen a Colonel Baird."

"You really don't expect me to buy that, do you?" Mabel said to Jacob, shaking her head.

"Maybe," Clara shrugged, earning a glare from Jacob.

Mabel just shook her head again, before turning and stalking off, Jacob going after her, throwing himself in front of her.

"Please, I need you to trust me on this," he said, smoothing back her black hair, the gesture impulsive, intimate. "I need you not to say anythin' to anyone else in this town about this."

"If something's going on in my town," Mabel flared up, "I need to know about it."

"I promise I'll tell you everythin' I know," Jacob said quietly.

Mabel just studied him for a moment before reluctantly nodding, folding her arms across her chest.

"I need you to go back to your archive and dig up anythin' you can find about these gas lamps," Jacob said gently. "Blueprints and whatnot, anythin' you can turn up, savvy?"

"Do not do anything without me," Mabel warned, before turning and leaving, giving the others a dirty look over her shoulder as she left.

"You selling us out?" Clara hissed at Jacob as soon as Mabel was out of earshot.

"At least she's not an alien," Jacob hissed back, shooting Ezekiel a pointed look.

"I'm selling my soul to an alien overlord, not some hot chick I've just met," Ezekiel retorted, stung by the insult.

"What's the difference?" Clara said, rolling her eyes.

* * *

"Is Eve a ghost?" Cassandra asked nervously, everybody back in the Annex, gathered around Flynn's desk.

"No, ghosts are ectoplasmic entities," Jenkins explained, examining his fingernails. "Colonel Baird appeared to be caught in some kind of energy discharge. But what kind is the question."

"We need more data to narrow it down," Clara said bluntly.

"Precisely," Jenkins said, nodding wisely at her.

"Time to take another trip to the archive then," Jacob said, edging for the door.

"Guard him," Jenkins ordered Clara.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Clara asked, confused.

"You're the Guardian now," Jenkins said, startling her, "if something happens to Eve, you step up. So step up like you're at a Reebok class."

"But" -

\- "I always said you were more Guardian material than Librarian," Jenkins said, cutting across her, "but it wasn't my decision. The Library obviously couldn't decide between brains and brawn. I suppose it was just playing it safe," he said, eying Clara oddly, "and anyways, you've been trying to usurp Eve from the word go, so off you toddle. This is your big moment to shine."

"Wait though" -

\- "Who did Jones phone for help?" Jenkins said, shooing her out the door after Jacob, "you, nobody else."

 _I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour_ _  
_ _But heaven knows I'm miserable now_ _  
_ _I was looking for a job, and then I found a job_ _  
_ _And heaven knows I'm miserable now_

* * *

"This is not a good idea," Jacob said, helping Clara through the window.

"No, it's a _brilliant_ idea," Clara said, switching her torch on, only for it flicker out.

"Don't worry," Jacob said, switching on his own, "I've got this covered." As they made their way through the darkness, creeping through the stacks, Clara tripped up, nearly faceplanting herself, only for Jacob to jerk her upright. "I got you," he said, taking her hand. "Just hold on."

"Don't let go," Clara said quietly.

"Never," Jacob said, glancing at her.

"Never," Clara echoed, only for the lights to come on, making them freeze.

"Are you actually breaking into my archive?" Mabel demanded, suddenly stepping out from behind a stack in front of them, face furious.

"It's not what it looks like," Jacob said, dropping Clara's hand like a hot coal.

"It's precisely what it looks like!" Clara snapped, rounding on Mabel. "You never delivered the goods, sweetcheeks!"

"And you lied to me, sugarlump!" Mabel retorted, jabbing her finger at Jacob.

"Look, whatever's goin' on with these gas lamps could be dangerous," Jacob said, taking her hands in his, making Clara roll her eyes. "So I need you to work with me on this."

Mabel's jaw tightened, but she gave in with bad grace. "Early town records are this way," she said, jerking her head at the far wall.

As they followed Mabel over, Clara's phone went off again, Clara hastily answering it. "Zeke?" she hissed, slowing to a stop.

"Cassandra found a circuit!" Ezekiel exclaimed, high-fiving Cassandra.

"And?" Clara prompted.

"She found a circuit," Ezekiel repeated, rolling his eyes.

"Give me the phone," Cassandra said, rolling her own eyes. "The energy is flowing through the gas lamps across the town," she explained to Clara, "I'm going to triangulate it back to its source" -

\- "Argghh!" Ezekiel screamed, clutching Cassandra.

"What's happening!?" Clara demanded.

"Ezekiel is screaming," Cassandra said, confused.

"I saw Baird," Ezekiel gasped, grabbing the phone off Cassandra, "I saw Baird!"

"How?" Clara said, starting to lose the plot.

"Jenkins modified Finch's binocular things," Ezekiel explained in a rush, "it lets me see the energy - apparently it exists on different frequencies" -

\- "Is Eve okay?" Clara snapped, cutting across him.

"She's annoyed at me," Ezekiel said sunnily, "so yeah, she's okay."


	7. Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers

**Invasion Of The Body-Snatchers**

"What is Eve doing now?" Clara asked, taking a seat, completely forgetting about Mabel and Jacob for the moment.

"She's telling me to follow her," Ezekiel said, frowning, "and she wants Cass to find the source."

"So do it then," Clara ordered, "split up and - and do whatever it is you're doing."

"You're not very good at this Guardian shtick are you?" Ezekiel said, brow furrowing further.

"I'm learning on the job," Clara snapped, "now follow Eve!"

"Okay, I'm following," Ezekiel said, following Eve, Cassandra setting off after the source.

Clara got to her feet, before stumbling her way through the stacks, only to stop at the sight in front of her. "What's going on?" she demanded, stalking over to Mabel and Jacob, the former looking guilty, the latter like his world was falling apart.

"She knows about the gas lamps, about what they do," Jacob said brokenly, gesturing to Mabel.

"Well, I didn't see that one coming," Clara said sarcastically, snatching up a map, glancing at the pieces of strange shaped metal scattered about, "and there was another town here?" she fired at Mabel, raising her gaze from the map.

Mabel just looked away, wringing her hands.

"Clara!" Ezekiel yelled down the line.

"I'm here, Zeke!" she yelled back, turning her back on Mabel and Jacob. "What's going on!?"

"They're possessing people," he explained, "like full on bodysnatching style!"

"What!?"

"They're pointing at me!" he exclaimed. "I think they know I can see them!"

"See who!?"

"They're chasing me now!"

The line suddenly went dead. Clara stared at the screen, feeling like the walls were closing in on her, finally understanding the burden Baird bore. In vain, she tried to dial Ezekiel, but the call wouldn't go through. Ignoring Jacob's demands to know what the hell was going on, she tried calling Cassandra, Jenkins, even Flynn, but the phone remained resolutely dead.

"You okay?" Mabel asked nervously.

"What do you care!?" Clara spat, rounding on her. "I've just lost two, maybe three, of my people because of your damned lies!"

"What!?" Jacob said in disbelief.

"You heard," Clara snapped, rounding on him next, "if you weren't so busy chasing a piece of skirt" -

\- "We need to build a barricade!" Ezekiel gasped, startling them all, brandishing a piece of white picket fence at Clara. "The Bodysnatchers are coming!"

* * *

"Okay, I _really_ need you to help me build a barricade," Ezekiel said, detaching himself from Clara's stranglehold.

"I thought you were dead," Clara almost wept.

"Never," Ezekiel said, ruffling up her hair.

"Wait a minute," Jacob said, putting down the map, "you said there was another town here?" he aimed at Clara.

"Yes," she snapped, recovering herself. "Get with the programme, Stone."

"It was built a hundred years before Collins Falls," Mabel explained, "originally named Wardenclyffe Falls, an experimental site built by" -

\- "And get away from her," Cassandra said, appearing out of nowhere, dragging Clara and Jacob away from Mabel, "she's the wife of Nikola Tesla!"

"Genius inventor, rival of Edison, and pretty much the reason why we have electricity in our homes?" Clara said in a rush, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of her.

"Get with the programme, sugarlump," Mabel said, shaking back her hair.

"Okay, I'm going to build this barricade on my own," Ezekiel said, taking off, only to come rushing back again. "Bodysnatchers are here!" he trilled, hiding behind Clara as several strangers stalked into the room.

"Norman, don't," Mabel said, stopping Victor from grabbing Jacob.

"Norman?" Clara squeaked.

"Norman Wisdom?" Cassandra said hopefully.

* * *

"What's the score then, Mabel or Mrs. Tesla, or whatever you are," Jacob said, folding his arms across his chest.

"I told you I had family commitments," Mabel said, sighing heavily. "This is it." She gestured around her at the people surrounding them, Ezekiel giving them a nervous wave, looking alternately thrilled and frightened to death. "In 1915, my husband was doing experiments in wireless power transmissions," she explained tiredly, "it was his dream, like Wi-Fi but for electricity, not just the Internet."

"I am beyond confused," Clara said, taking a seat.

"The gas lamps are prototypes of wireless transmitters," Mabel continued, "but something went wrong. We activated the system and everyone got zapped out of sync."

"Out of sync with what?" Jacob asked, brow furrowing dangerously.

"The universe," Victor said, exhaling sharply.

"We were stuck in some interdimensional border," Mabel said, "we could see the world, we were aware of it, but we couldn't interact with it."

"That's what happened to Baird," Cassandra said quietly.

"How many of you are there?" Clara asked. "And how do we get Eve back?"

"There's 87 souls," a stout diner waitress said, speaking up.

"Once my husband realised his mistake, he modified the transmitters to create an energy field that would keep us stable," Mabel said, her voice gaining enthusiasm, "without them we cease to exist."

"But what about Eve?" Clara pressed, standing up.

"And how come you're not possessed?" Ezekiel said, frowning.

"I was in the main control room when it happened," Mabel said, enthusiasm fading, her shoulders slumping. "I was insulated, shielded. Most people were knocked entirely out of phase; I was just blinking in and out. My husband was able to anchor me in my body by turning me into a sort of grounding wire." She turned around, lifting up the back of her hair, revealing a copper wire sticking out the back of her neck.

"Whoa," Jacob said, taking a step back.

"Whoa doesn't even cover it," Clara breathed.

 _You shut your mouth_  
 _how can you say_  
 _I go about things the wrong way_  
 _I am human and I need to be loved_  
 _just like everybody else does…_


	8. The Splintering Heart

**The Splintering Heart**

"But what's with the bodysnatching?" Ezekiel asked, raising his hand.

"It's possible for us to interact through the world with others," Mabel explained, shaking her black hair back. "Interface with the nervous system" -

\- "Okay, too much information," Ezekiel said, looking like he was going to barf.

"But it's wrong what you're doing," Cassandra said, exchanging a glance with Clara.

"We only use the bodies for a couple of hours at a time," Victor said defensively. "Our energy fields just interfere with their memories. They just lose a couple of hours here and there like everyone does."

"But what about the real Victor Finch?" Clara said, stepping forwards. "You've been wearing his body for three weeks now!"

"Easy," Jacob admonished her.

"Easy?" Ezekiel flared up, rushing to Clara's defence. "Eve's gone, Jake!"

Jacob glanced down at the ground, unable to answer that.

"I walked a thin line between snatching and borrowing, but this!?" Ezekiel spat, rounding on Mabel and the others. To his surprise, Clara grabbed him again, nearly strangling him in a bear hug. "Okay, you really have to stop doing that," he grimaced, detaching himself from her death grip.

"Sorry," Clara apologized, "but sometimes I really love you, you know that? In a strictly platonic way that is," she amended hastily.

"Me too," Ezekiel said, ruffling up her hair again.

"You love yourself platonically?" Cassandra said, raising her eyebrows.

"I meant I love Clara platonically," Ezekiel said impatiently. "I love all my fellow Librarians, even when they're being a jack-ass," he said, glaring at Jacob.

"We need your help," Mabel said suddenly, startling everyone.

"Really?" Clara said, rounding on her.

"We needed a body we could hold onto for a little longer," Mabel explained, "a stranger, somebody new in town who no one would notice was missing. It's the only way we could fix things - and we're _so_ close to fixing things. We just need your help."

* * *

"Nikola made a deal with the government," Mabel explained, leading them through the electricity power station, "he gave them some of his patents as long as they never touched the old facilities. So they erased the records and built over the town, but they had to leave this dam. My husband spent the rest of his life trying to figure out how to bring us back, but he was never able to in his life-time."

"So if we help you, we can bring Eve back?" Clara said, exchanging a glance with the others.

Mabel nodded.

"But dimensional reintegration takes an enormous amount of energy," Cassandra said, brow furrowing, "particularly for people who've been in flux as long as you have."

"This is the capacitor Nikola built," Mabel said, gesturing to it, "it was designed to store the energy. The turbines in the dam have been charging it for the past hundred years. But the capacitor is old, it's failing. Norman's been trying to fix it, that's why he needed a longer term body, but even with that, we need to activate it in the next day or two, or it will break down completely. The energy gets discharged, and we'll be stuck. We've been running tests" -

"Which has been causing atmospheric disturbances," Cassandra said, glancing at Ezekiel, "causing the lights in the sky."

"Will you help us?" Mabel said, her voice cracking.

"There's only a fifty-fifty chance this will work," Cassandra said, shaking her head, "if it doesn't, the excess energy will disperse, blowing out the gas lamps, which are the only thing keeping you stable."

"We have to try, for Eve's sake," Clara said, "there's no other choice."

"There is no choice," Jacob said, stepping forwards, "we have to help these people, Eve or not."

* * *

"So what's the deal with you?" Clara asked Mabel as everybody set to work on realizing Tessler's vision. "You've got your own body, why stick around for a hundred years?"

"The gas lamps stabilised me too," Mabel said tiredly, "if I crossed the border of the circuit, I would be as lost as anyone."

"So that's why you didn't travel?" Jacob said, not looking at her.

"Yeah," Mabel said, "what's your excuse?"

Jacob shrugged his shoulders.

"I can't and couldn't travel," Mabel fired at him, "you just didn't."

"Every year I spent not leaving made it easier to stay," Jacob fired back.

"And now that you know better?" Mabel pressed.

Without a word, Jacob slid his hand up the back of her neck, kissing her in front of Clara, not caring anymore.

"Get a room!" Ezekiel hollered as he strode past, shouldering a coil of copper wire.

Jacob and Mabel drew apart, Mabel biting her lip, Jacob repressing a rueful grin.

"Nice one, Stone," Clara snapped, shaking her head at him in disgust.

"It was," Jacob said silkily, before turning and leaving, Clara watching him go, her heart splintering strangely within her.

 _There's a club if you'd like to go_ _  
_ _you could meet somebody who really loves you_ _  
_ _so you go, and you stand on your own_ _  
_ _and you leave on your own_ _  
_ _and you go home, and you cry_ _  
_ _and you want to die…_


	9. Remember Paris

**Remember Paris**

"If this works, Eve will be the first one to return," Cassandra explained, "she's not been in flux as long, so the energy will reintegrate her faster in this reality."

"Last in, first out," Clara said, exhaling sharply.

"Yup," Cassandra said, clasping her hands together.

"So let's do it," Mabel said, taking Jacob's hand.

Cassandra nodded at Victor, before turning and pushing the giant red rusted lever upwards, clicking it into place. Everything seemed to be working, Clara thinking it was going to end well for once, but then Cassandra sprung forwards, her face paling, the gauge suddenly going into overload. "The capacitor!" she yelled, shoving Victor aside. "It's amplifying the harmonics exponentially!"

"What does that mean!?" Clara yelled, the growing roar of the turbines making her clamp her hands over her ears.

"If this doesn't work, the energy won't just blast the gas lamps but everything around it!" Cassandra snapped, struggling to regain control.

"How far!?" Ezekiel demanded, clutching Clara.

"For miles!" Cassandra screeched, sweat beading on her brow. "Hundreds of miles!"

"Do something then!" Jacob bellowed.

"We need to shut it down!" Cassandra said, hands shaking.

"You can't!" Victor spat, rounding on her. "There's 87 people trapped here!"

"And there's twenty times that outside!" Cassandra spat back. "We can't take that risk!"

"I'll take that risk," Victor said, snatching up a spanner. Before anybody could stop him, he started smashing up the devices Cassandra had slaved over, destroying her work.

"Stop it!" Clara screamed, rushing forwards, throwing herself onto his back.

"I can't go on like this!" Victor screamed back, struggling with her and then Ezekiel, " _we_ can't go on like this!"

"What have you done!?" Cassandra screeched, clutching the roots of her red hair.

"Jake, do something!" Clara begged, being tossed from side to side like a rag, nearly throttling Victor as she tried to hold on.

"Music, melodies - we need a key change!" Cassandra yelled, as Jacob hesitated, caught in the middle.

"But it will kill us all," Mabel said, the blood draining from her face, "including your friend."

"She would be the first to make that call," Jacob said, his voice cracking.

Mabel hesitated, biting her lip. "There's an override switch outside," she said suddenly, the tears springing to her eyes, "up on the relay on the rooftop."

"Mabel" -

\- "Don't!" Mabel cried, whirling on him. "It's my choice!"

Cassandra threw herself through the doorway, Jacob suddenly turning and kicking the wall, before doubling over, wrapping his arms around his head. The air sparked, Eve suddenly flung back into being, looking stunned. But as she did, Mabel suddenly collapsed, clutching her chest, her eyes going wide. Around her, the others started falling like ninepins, bodies jerking, heads twitching, making Clara's hand fly to her mouth, clamping down the screams rising in her throat, the desperate despair nearly overwhelming her.

"Stay with me, Mabel," Jacob begged, gathering Mabel in his arms, propping her up against his chest. "Just hold on, please."

"I wanted to see Paris in the rain," Mabel whispered, the ghost of a smile flickering then fading on her lips, the life leaving her eyes.

Jacob just sat there, stunned. Around him, the others lived and died, rescue arriving too late. Cassandra burst through the door, face bloodless, shaking from head to foot. Without a word being said, Clara knew it was over, the knowledge making her sink to her knees. Ezekiel helped Eve over to a chair, trying not to look at those they'd failed to save, a city of light plunged into darkness.

"Jake," Clara whispered, trying and failing to cross the divide between them.

"Don't," Jake said, his gaze tracing Mabel's features, "it was her choice."

"We choose," Clara said brokenly, her fists clenching by her sides.

"Au revoir, ma'am," Jacob whispered, his lips brushing Mabel's brow, "remember Paris."

 _The rain falls hard on a humdrum town_ _  
_ _This town has dragged you down_ _  
_ _Oh the rain falls hard on a humdrum town_ _  
_ _This town has dragged you down…_

 _ **The End**_

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thank you to everyone that read, reviewed, followed and favourited this story, particularly **Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967**. The sequel, _By The Sword_ _,_ can be found under the 'My Stories' section of my profile.


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